President of Business Operations Bruce Rosenblum Exits Disney-ABC TV Group

As part of The Walt Disney Company’s corporate restructuring, certain roles and responsibilities have been reorganized throughout new divisions. It appears that one casualty of these redefined positions is Bruce Rosenblum, president of business operations for Disney-ABC Television Group since 2006; Rosenblum will depart the company at the end of May.

Back in March, Disney announced a strategic reorganization of the company, with one of the largest changes coming in the form of a Direct-to-Consumer and International division which will be lead by former Disney chief strategy officer Kevin Mayer. In the course of developing that division, many of Rosenblum’s responsibilities have transferred to Mayer’s department. Global ad sales and programming distribution for Disney media properties, domestic distribution, and digital and technology operations for the Disney-ABC Television Group have all moved over to Direct-to-Consumer and International.

Rosenblum purportedly still has a year and a half left on his contract. Attempts were made to move him into a new position within the company, but he was unable to find another satisfactory role inside Disney. He appears to be departing with no ill will, though, and told Deadline, “I genuinely believe that the direction Bob Iger is taking the Walt Disney Company is the absolute correct one and I applaud the company’s redirection to a direct-to-consumer future on a global basis. I very much like this company, I think it has a tremendous future. It was great to work within the Disney culture even for a short period of time.”

The announcement of his departure was made via an internal memo from Disney-ABC Television Group president Ben Sherwood. The memo states,

Team:

As you are all aware, TWDC recently announced the creation of a new Direct-to-Consumer & International division – consolidating business operational areas across the company under one unit.

While this restructure is vital to the company’s future, one implication is that many of Bruce Rosenblum‘s responsibilities have been dispersed within the Company.

After a number of conversations about other possible roles within Disney ABC, I am sorry to share that Bruce has decided to depart the company at the end of May.

I hope you’ll join me in saluting Bruce for the exceptional business acumen and television expertise he brought to our team, thanking him for his many contributions, and wishing him the best in his next endeavors.